"How amazingly well those men have got on!" cried I to Mr.
Smooth-it-away. "I wish we were secure of as good a reception.""Never fear- never fear!" answered my friend. "Come- make haste;the ferry-boat will be off directly; and in three minutes you willbe on the other side of the river. No doubt you will find coaches tocarry you up to the city gates."A steam ferry-boat, the last improvement on this important route,lay at the river-side, puffing, snorting, and emitting all those otherdisagreeable utterances, which betoken the departure to beimmediate. I hurried on board with the rest of the passengers, most ofwhom were in great perturbation; some bawling out for their baggage;some tearing their hair and exclaiming that the boat would explodeor sink; some already pale with the heaving of the stream; some gazingaffrighted at the ugly aspect of the steersman; and some still dizzywith the slumberous influences of the Enchanted Ground. Looking backto the shore, I was amazed to discern Mr. Smooth-it-away waving hishand in token of farewell!
"Don't you go over to the Celestial City?" exclaimed I.
"Oh, no!" answered he with a queer smile, and that samedisagreeable contortion of visage which I had remarked in theinhabitants of the Dark Valley. "Oh, no! I have come thus far only forthe sake of your pleasant company. Good bye! We shall meet again."And then did my excellent friend, Mr. Smooth-it-away, laughoutright; in the midst of which cachinnation, a smoke-wreath issuedfrom his mouth and nostrils, while a twinkle of lurid flame darted outof either eye, proving indubitably that his heart was all of a redblaze. The impudent fiend! To deny the existence of Tophet, when hefelt its fiery tortures raging within his breast! I rushed to the sideof the boat, intending to fling myself on shore. But the wheels, asthey began their revolutions, threw a dash of spray over me, socold- so deadly cold, with the chill that will never leave thosewaters, until Death be drowned in his own river- that, with a shiverand a heart-quake, I awoke. Thank heaven, it was a Dream!
THE END
.
1850
TWICE-TOLD TALES
THE GREAT STONE FACE
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
ONE AFTERNOON, When the sun was going down, a mother and her littleboy sat at the door of their cottage, talking about the Great StoneFace. They had but to lift their eyes, and there it was plainly tobe seen, though miles away, with the sunshine brightening all itsfeatures.
And what was the Great Stone Face?
Embosomed amongst a family of lofty mountains, there was a valleyso spacious that it contained many thousand inhabitants. Some of thesegood people dwelt in log huts, with the black forest all aroundthem, on the steep and difficult hill-sides. Others had their homes incomfortable farm-houses, and cultivated the rich soil on the gentleslopes or level surfaces of the valley. Others, again, werecongregated into populous villages, where some wild, highland rivulet,tumbling down from its birthplace in the upper mountain region, hadbeen caught and tamed by human cunning, and compelled to turn themachinery of cotton factories. The inhabitants of this valley, inshort, were numerous, and of many modes of life. But all of them,grown people and children, had a kind of familiarity with the GreatStone Face, although some possessed the gift of distinguishing thisgrand natural phenomenon more perfectly than many of their neighbors.
The Great Stone Face, then, was a work of Nature in her mood ofmajestic playfulness, formed on the perpendicular side of a mountainby some immense rocks, which had been thrown together in such aposition as, when viewed at a proper distance, precisely to resemblethe features of the human countenance. It seemed as if an enormousgiant, or a Titan, had sculptured his own likeness on the precipice.
There was the broad arch of the forehead, a hundred feet in height;the nose, with its long bridge; and the vast lips, which, if theycould have spoken, would have rolled their thunder accents from oneend of the valley to the other. True it is, that if the spectatorapproached too near, he lost the outline of the gigantic visage, andcould discern only a heap of ponderous and gigantic rocks, piled inchaotic ruin one upon another. Retracing his steps, however, thewondrous features would again be seen; and the further he withdrewfrom them, the more like a human face, with all its originaldivinity intact, did they appear; until, as it grew dim in thedistance, with the clouds and glorified vapor of the mountainsclustering about it, the Great Stone Face seemed positively to bealive.
It was a happy lot for children to grow up to manhood orwomanhood with the Great Stone Face before their eyes, for all thefeatures were noble, and the expression was at once grand and sweet,as if it were the glow of a vast, warm heart, that embraced allmankind in its affections, and had room for more. It was aneducation only to look at it. According to the belief of manypeople, the valley owed much of its fertility to this benign aspectthat was continually beaming over it, illuminating the clouds, andinfusing its tenderness into the sunshine.
As we began with saying, a mother and her little boy sat at theircottage door, gazing at the Great Stone Face, and talking about it.
The child's name was Ernest.
